Documentation : The Easy Way to Impress at Your Job

When I first started working for my current company, the first few weeks were filled with frustration. It took forever to get a laptop, and there was much confusion about what access I needed, and what forms needed to be filled out in order to get that access. When all of that was finally sorted, I began to ask my teammates about documentation that I could go through to get up to speed on the team’s processes. I quickly realized that the tasks that my team was responsible for were being done by folks who had been doing them for years, and the only documented list of what we needed to do, and how we needed to do it– was inside of their heads.

Upon noticing this, I realized that there was an easy way to make this learning curve a little bit less severe for the next person to walk this path. I documented all of the processes required to get a new employee all of the access and supplies that they needed, our team’s very first “New Employee On-boarding Guide.” From there, I began to document my team’s processes, one by one. Through this process, I was able to contribute to my team from the first day, and to create something that could be used for years to come.

Documenting History

This wasn’t the first time that I had used documentation as an easy way to impress at a job. It started years ago, when I realized that I was having trouble remembering the exact steps that were needed to complete some routine tasks. My ability to write has always been better than my ability to remember, so I started writing down these steps and saving them in a text file, where I could pull them up as needed. As a bonus, the act of writing things down was a very effective memory tool, which meant that I often didn’t even need to reference the documents that I had just created.

At the same time, I was quickly becoming the go-to guy on my team for solving problems. When my teammates would come to me with a question, I had often created a document about that exact scenario. Instead of just solving the problem for my teammate, I could just send them the document and let them solve the problem themselves (and learn in the process.) Soon, my troubleshooting documents were being cycled around the team (and others), and my reputation within the organization began to grow.

How to Document

One reality about documentation is that sometimes it needs to be modified; processes can change, software can be upgraded or replaced, and roles and responsibilities can shift. Because of this, it is wise to serve up documentation via a web repository, instead of emailing documents around. When you share a document with your team, encourage them to bookmark the link to the document, as opposed to saving a copy of it locally. That way, they will always get the newest version. Most methods for saving online documentation are also indexed and searchable, meaning that your teammates can always search to see if a document has been created which answers their question. If not, perhaps they can create one!

When it comes to online documentation, there are a variety of software choices out there. The most common choice in the current corporate world is Microsoft Sharepoint, which offers a full suite of web pages, online spreadsheets, and so much more. The best part about Sharepoint is that it is fully access controlled, meaning you can choose who you share each document with. Some documentation may be fit for public consumption, while others (like a contact list, perhaps) may be appropriate for your team only. I work in the IT realm, so in the absence of Sharepoint, we can typically just install an Apache web server and/or some Wiki software to host our online documentation. If this isn’t an option for you, there are always sites like 123 Reg that offer online web hosting for cheap, and even offer tools to help construct your documentation web page.

Leaving a Legacy

Creating documentation is neither fun nor exciting, and from a writing perspective– it really doesn’t get much drier. But I can promise you that it is always time well spent. I have found that being willing to create documentation for a team not only impresses management and my teammates from the get-go, but it provides a way for me to leave a legacy when I leave the team and move on.

One of my goals in my career has always been to leave each team that I work on a little bit better off for having me on the team. Creating documentation allows for an easy method for me to accomplish this goal. To this day, my first team at my current company still uses dozens of documents that I created when I was on the team. It makes me happy to know that a little bit of work on my end has continued to help others for years down the road.

15 Comments

This is a great idea. I know my team would definitely benefit from having a new employee guide and a few other documents on tasks everyone has to do. I should try to create them, but I just have no motivation to do it. I guess that’s probably why documents are never created, no one wants to make them.

That’s exactly what I did at my current job. I didn’t get trained by the person I replaced so there were lots of things I had to learn by making mistakes or asking people. So once I learned something new I would write it down and ended up making a how to do my job manual so it would be handy for the never person. And I also somehow became the go to person for problems, which I definitely take as a complement.

I had the same experience. I had to learn everything by myself. But I am glad I went through that because now I know I don’t have to depend on someone to learn new things and survive challenges at work.

Thats awesome advice for standing out when you’re new. Im a little worries that everything I do will fall apart when I leave because I creates the role and haven’t documented much. I guess that’s something I need to work on…

In my first job, a group of us were on the first batch of a brand new help desk. A couple of us stood out. I had great troubleshooting and customer service skills, so I was elevated. A lady I worked with went down the documentation path. Since everything was new, very little was documented from a real-world perspective, and she took it upon herself to start documenting things and sharing with the team. She was quickly deemed one of the most valuable resources on the team.

Holy crap, this literally could have been written by me, word-for-word:

“When I first started working for my current company, the first few weeks were filled with frustration. It took forever to get a laptop, and there was much confusion about what access I needed, and what forms needed to be filled out in order to get that access. When all of that was finally sorted, I began to ask my teammates about documentation that I could go through to get up to speed on the team’s processes. I quickly realized that the tasks that my team was responsible for were being done by folks who had been doing them for years, and the only documented list of what we needed to do, and how we needed to do it– was inside of their heads.”

When I started my current job there was essentially zero documentation. I’ve focused on this intensely over the past year, but I need to go through everything (again) because I changed/improved the processes. People hate doing documentation, but it seriously provides a lot of value!

Wow this is a really great idea and one that I might steal. I love here little tips and tricks of employees who have learned from experience. When I learn something I know I’ll need to remember but won’t memorize, I alway make a point to write it down so I don’t have to bother people with questions about routine tasks. This is something I’ll definitely remember, thanks!

I can’t believe there is no documentation of the job process in the company you’ve worked with. All the companies I have worked with have that kind of documentation for easy learning and reminders especially when there is someone new in the company.

Like you, I prefer to write everything down. Not only does it help me remember and is a great reference tool, but documentation is a great way to get organized and clearly make goals and find ways to complete tasks.

Yeah, it might be really boring but it’s necessary in almost everything that we do, especially at work. Who knows, you might invent something and the you need to show a documentation on how you did it. Or when you need to pass down your knowledge to the next generation. Or at work like you said. It can be done through proper documentation.

I love your note to bookmark it instead of emailing it. I actually developed a manual for stage manager’s for the cruise line I worked for years ago because the turnover rate was huge – you would switch ships every 4-6 months, and each ship did things a little different. I remember getting so angry trying to figure out who to get printer ink from the first time that I just started making a step by step manual for every little thing. It actually wound up being pretty popular with all the stage manager’s in the fleet.

It’s funny how this is a common theme with almost every company I seem to go to, and every time, I just take my personal notes and write them down somewhere for everyone to access and I seem like some tech-guru.

For me it might just be because the IT world constantly changes and people don’t want to document it. But I’m also guessing that it’s because most software developers don’t really write much, so asking for documentation is kind of like pulling teeth.

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